Blowing Zen: Expanded Edition: One Breath One Mind, Shakuhachi Flute Meditation

great book, but I could do without the" how to make your own Shakuhachi" section! It takes up a good little section of book...but that's ok, it has how to care for it, as well as solutik s to so e problems o e may have. I recommend this book.

Terrible! Not what I expected! Very hard to understand and it does not teach you how to play! I want to return it!

If you're serious about learning the notation and want an in depth guide (whether you have a teacher or not), then this and the companion cd are the best money you can spend other than on a good flute.

Very well written and easy to follow

Very hard to follow without the CD which costs more than the book and must be ordered separately. He could have charged us a little more and included it. I did not find the Asian music notation easy to follow so I transposed some of the songs to a more standard understandable notation. I did find a few hints but after misplacing the book I never looked for it again. Also, too many pages wasted on making your own shakuhachi. Maybe if I wanted to make one I would have appreciated it a little more. Not useless but not very good for a beginner like me.

Fantastic book with a great introduction, history, and tutorial. I would suggest you get the CD as well, because it helps in guiding your sound.

Useless

This is the simplest and easiest to understand of all the beginners books. It goes straight to the Japanese notation and explains it as you go. The cd or tape that goes with it makes life even easier. If you're starting out even without a teacher this is THE book.

Although this book has been out for sometime it is in my opinion one of the best shakuhachi tutorials available with some very clear instructions and useful tips. It also has a long section on how to make a shakuhachi.Highly recommended!

probably one of the best shakuhachi books available.ive had some books by the japanese instructors and they cover the basics but try to progress too quickly.this book however makes things clearer, such as timing and what ALL the symbols actually mean.a very good book with the added bonus of lots ( and i mean lots) of music in the expanded edition.

Reads very well, but I didn't realise the second half of the book is written in Japanese notation.

The book has good history that you can also find on Google as well as 1/4 of the book is how to make one which no one should do without years of experience with the instrument and an apprenticeship from a master builder.The layout is not good.The front part is in order then it goes straight into the music with the chapter for the music at the end of the music, then the book 2 does the same thing.Then he suggests to print off the music in accordion style sheets to play...that’s why I bought a book so I wouldn’t be printing off stuff!The knowledge in it is good but it is hard to read and the layout makes it hard to organize study.I wound up ripping the pages out and spending 6 hours redoing the book in the correct order to allow me to use the book correctly as a method of study instead of it being all over the place and barely useable.

easy to read and understand...nice book. Thanks the author....